The workshop was organized on 12 and 13 April 2011, back-to-back with the fourth meeting of the Task Force on Water and Climate (14 April 2011). It brought together countries and other stakeholders engaged in activities on water and adaptation to climate change, in particular in transboundary basins, with the aim to:
- Exchange practical experience and share lessons-learned on the technical and strategic aspects of adapting to climate change;
- Analyse the specific challenges of adapting water management to climate change in the transboundary context, identify best practices, success factors and lessons learnt; considering the different steps of developing an adaptation strategy: from the assessment of impacts and vulnerability to the selection of measures;
- Exchange experience between the pilot projects on adaptation to climate change in transboundary basins under the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) as well as other similar initiatives;
- Support governments, organizations and joint bodies engaged in the process of preparing national or regional adaptation strategies;
- Promote and discuss the implementation of the UNECE Guidance on Water and Adaptation to Climate Change.
The workshop was the second one organized on this theme in the framework of the UNECE Water Convention, within its platform for exchanging experience on adaptation to climate change in the transboundary context. It built on the results of last year’s workshop and illustrated recent developments in this area.
The workshop was organized under the leadership of the Governments of the Netherlands and Germany, with the support of the UNECE secretariat. Funding for pilot projects and the platform for exchanging experience was also provided by the governments of Finland and Switzerland. The workshop was also supported by GWP-Mediterranean, in the framework of the project IW:Learn3.
The results of the first core group of the pilot projects are available here.